Hyatt Hotels Corporation is looking to grow in the upper midscale segment with the launch of its newest brand, Hyatt Select.
The select-service brand will be geared toward transient guests and is billed as a "conversion-friendly" addition to the company's brand portfolio. No deals have been signed yet.
It is the sixth brand to join the company's "Essentials Portfolio" of select-service brands, along with Caption by Hyatt, Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Hyatt Studios and UrCove.
Overall, the company has more than 1,400 hotels and all-inclusive resorts scattered across 79 countries and more than 30 brands.
Hyatt executives speaking to Hotel News Now ahead of the official launch noted the brand has close connections to upper midscale extended-stay brand Hyatt Studios, which launched in 2023. Both target secondary and tertiary markets that lack a Hyatt presence, and both are designed to give travelers a lower-price-point entry into the Hyatt system and its World of Hyatt loyalty platform.
"If you look at the growth of Hyatt over the last decade, we've tried to be very intentional about finding places where we could add value to the Hyatt system and meet guest needs where they travel," said Dan Hansen, Hyatt's head of Americas development and global head of Hyatt Studios. "As we did with the launch of Hyatt Studios, we've identified a number of markets where Hyatt has little or no representation that we can fill with a conversion friendly, transient brand."
The brand also will serve as a conversion outlet for many aging Hyatt Place properties, said Jason Ballard, head of operations to Hyatt Studios and Hyatt Select, said. He noted the brand compliments the company's overall growth strategy, which has included a significant expansion in the all-inclusive resorts space including the pending acquisition of Playa Hotels & Resorts.
"Now we have this opportunity for new hotels in new markets where we can welcome Hyatt loyalty guests," he said. "And by the way, we have now 54 million World of Hyatt guests, which is an all-time high."
Hansen noted roughly 290 markets across the country with no Hyatt brand presence and 500 where there's just one Hyatt hotel.
"As we've grown our distribution through luxury lifestyle, this is our opportunity to balance that with your business transient guest and your leisure guest that you know is going to a market and previously they did not have a choice for Hyatt," he said.
Hyatt executives noted that the Hyatt Studios launch did highlight how big of a white space the company had in the upper midscale segment, but not all of the opportunities called for an extended-stay brand.
Enter Hyatt Select, which Hansen said could work in airport locations and even cities in Latin America, where the additional costs of including full kitchens "isn't the best fit" because the markets depend on short-term guests.
"So depending on the market, the owner and the travel pattern of guests, I think we've isolated the balance of Hyatt Studios in extended-stay upper midscale, Hyatt Place for transient upscale and [Hyatt Select] fits squarely in the middle there," he said.
While the brand is touted as conversion-friendly, Hansen noted the company is working currently on the prototype for new-build Hyatt Selects. Ballard said the operating model calls for hotels to be lightly staffed and highly profitable.
"We're going to really lean into our 24/7 market, which will have a high-end coffee choice and self-service alcohol through either taps or purchase," he said. "We do feel like that's a big differentiator in the space, because in this area, the quality of food and beverage isn't always high. I think it's excellent for both the ownership side and for the guest side."
Asked how this fits into Hyatt's long-term stated strategy of catering to high-end travelers, Hansen said the new brand will continue the Hyatt philosophy of operating "at the high end of every segment that we are in."
He said Select "won't be a brand where you can just put a Hyatt sign on" the building, but rather the company will remain intentional and specific around quality requirements.
While the quality is a non-negotiable, Hansen said the brand is willing to be flexible on elements of the new brand, including the overall footprint ranging from 70 to 200 rooms.
"There's not going to be a 1,000-room Hyatt Select, but I think there's flexibility on rooms, and room sizes will be a little easier [compared to] Hyatt Studios, since you're not going to have a full kitchen in there," he said. "A pool is optional. Meeting space is optional. But we do want to make sure we have a fitness area and a good breakfast area."
Hansen said Hyatt expects the brand to grow relatively quickly, first through conversions.